Cut In The Hill Gang
by Eric AllenArticle Tools
Blues Reeducation
Dah duh dah dun. Dah duh dah dun. Ask some jackass at a party to play the blues on a guitar and you get that. Just like jazz and its often-mocked hi-hat drumming, the standard blues riff has long been maligned as something of a joke. Play the progression, mock ramble about your “baby leaving” and watch Dr. Ross and John Lee Hooker turn over in their graves.
With a town steeped in blues history, it’s really surprising there is such a lack of knowledge about the genre in The D. However, just like Hooker, Johnny Walker of the Cut in the Hill Gang has been bringing the roots of blues to the Motor City. Formerly with the Soledad Brothers and now with CITHG, Walker is again blues-educating (he's been doing so since the late-'90s) with his new group’s debut full-length. RDW spoke with Walker about the record, his trips to Detroit and the misunderstandings of the blues.
What keeps you so interested in the blues after all this time? Explain the magic of this music.
Musicians who dismiss blues as being easy are, generally speaking, three chord frauds. Seriously, is there only one styling in playing blues? Does John Lee Hooker sound like Elmore James? It takes a lot of time to craft a distinct and integral style to fit the genre. So don’t pronounce yourself as a genius and try to dismiss roots music as common. Make the effort to make it your own.
Tell us a little bit about the CITHG full-length.
The LP is part of a split release. The CD will get released in February. There is the part one and two, Hung Up and Cut Down. We wrote our obituary before we even got started. It will be released in Europe on Glitterhouse and in the US on Little Room Record Co.
How does it feel to keep making that drive up here to Detroit? What’s the drive like?
It has always been good to play in bars in Detroit. It is where I cut my teeth. I’ll tempt fate and say that I’ll probably crash and burn driving home from Detroit. I have to be at the hospital [Johnny works at Children’s Hospital in Kentucky] at 7 a.m. the next morning. | RDW
Cut in the Hill Gang • 12/28 • PJ’s Lager House
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